New Delhi: 10 kids missing every day in last 4 months

New Delhi, Jul 30: Under a mysterious situation of child trafficking, at least 10 children have gone missing everyday in Delhi in the first four months of 2011. More than 37% of them are yet to be traced.

According to Amod Kanth of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), what makes the situation challenging is that child trafficking is not even considered a crime in India. "In about 70-80% cases, missing children are trafficked and used as labour. Child labour, however, does not even find a mention in the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act. This is a major lacuna," Kanth said.

CRY reports reveal that 1,238 children had gone missing from eight districts of Delhi - the city has 11 police districts. Of this, around 468 are yet to be traced in the period between January and April this year. The figures would have ballooned had the data for three districts, including east and southwest district, had been provided. These are the districts that register a considerable number of missing cases.

"According to the Zonal Integrated Police Network, the number of missing children from 10 districts of Delhi (between Jan 1-April 20, 2011) was 468. However, numbers extracted through RTIs from just eight districts stand at 1,260," a statement by child rights organization CRY said.